Karen Lodrick’s Story - Part II: The Capture
The next morning, I went to the bank early to retrieve the fake Driver’s License, and as I waited for it to open in the coffee shop next door, I noticed a woman wearing the same coat
I had seen in the ATM photos… she made me feel very anxious; something wasn’t right. 
She was wearing Gucci glasses yet looked as though she hadn’t bathed in some time. I decided to sit down next to her and her companion to try and listen to their conversation, “maybe I would hear something that would give them away,” I thought. But as I sat there my body was getting more and more anxious, I called the police and asked if they would send someone out here to investigate. They said that someone was on the way. But they never showed and she began to cross through the parking lot.
I had a strong feeling about this woman, so I followed her up to the sidewalk. She was a half a block a way when she turned and looked straight at me; I froze. She opened her purse to get something. I asked a man who was standing there if he knew her. A lot of men hang out around this area in San Francisco; they usually don’t have jobs or are homeless. He said no, do you? I said “no, but I think she’s stealing my identity.” He said “you’re not the first person to say that about her.” For me this was the conformation I needed and I immediately called 911.
I called 911 from my cell phone and continued to follow the woman. I tried to give them my location, as I was doing so, the woman seemed to disappear! I walked down the street and spotted her hiding in a doorway. She saw me and walked swiftly down the block as I followed. At the end of the block, she got into a cab–she was going to get away! I relayed this to the 911 dispatcher who told me to ask the cab driver not to drive away. I calmly yet quickly went up to the cab and told the driver “I have 911 on the line please don’t drive away, I think she is stealing my identity.” The cab driver lifted his hands off the steering wheel in a gesture that said okay. The woman got out and turned to me while heading down the street and said, “stop following me you’re scaring me.” I asked her to just wait for the police to arrive and we could work this all out with them. 
She just continued to run down the street and got about half a block away when she threw something down in an abandoned cart. I told 911 “it looks like she dropped something.” When I reached the cart I picked it up. I told 911 “she dropped a black Prada wallet.”
The woman crossed to the other side and then quickly crossed over to a bus stop. She got on the bus. I told 911 “she’s getting on a bus” and quickly explained what the bus looked like and the bus number. The situation seemed to allow me to approach the bus and ask the bus driver not to leave. He too looked at me, and didn’t drive away.
Once again, she ran. I again followed about a half a block away from her. She crossed over and traveled up market until she reached Franklin Street and then she turned up Franklin heading west.
She got ahead of me and quickly turned a corner, Page Street. By the time I reached the corner, she was gone. I couldn’t see her. It seemed she had gotten away. 911 asked if I was going to stay there until the police arrived. I had no choice. She disappeared. I was so disappointed and I walked over to the nearest doorway to get an address of my location. At that point I had a moment to look inside the Prada wallet and inside was my identity! Everything in that wallet was addressed to me! “Oh, my God it’s all my stuff,” I cried. “Please hurry, please!” I pleaded to 911 over and over again.
I approached a glass doorway giving 911 the address when I noticed her inside the glass. I said “I see her, she’s in the building! She’s here at 365 Page Street. Hurry, hurry, please hurry!” I pleaded with 911 as she ran out of the door and was a block away within seconds. I was frozen for about 15 seconds then I chased her around the corner and then around another. She was gone once again. This time I couldn’t see her at all. Not on either side of the garage and she wasn’t in the doorway. I couldn’t believe I had come so far to have her get away. The chase continued for 45 minutes. I gave my address: 280 Fell Street. “Yes, I’ll stay here until the police arrive. No, I guess you don’t need to stay on the phone. Yes, I’m sure. I’ll be alright, I suppose. I think. Yes, okay.” As I hung up the phone I wanted to cry.
The police car showed up within minutes. I waved, thinking “please don’t drive away.” He stopped and got out of his car. I explained that she was gone and we looked through the wallet. I explained to him a bit of what was happening to me for the past 6 months. He started looking around the parking garage– there she was, hiding behind a car!
My first reaction was to laugh in surprise and say “you idiot you should of run.” The police officer hushed me. He talked with her for a few minutes and then put her into the police car. My stomach started to cramp up, my head started to pound. I was sick to my stomach. The police officer asked if I was okay and I said “No but I’ll be all right.” He asked if I would come down to the station and make a statement, “of course I will,” I replied.
I drove to the bank, got the counterfeit driver’s license and headed to the police station. The license looked so real, I thought at the time the DMV screwed up, but I found out later it was a very clever fake.
The police officer couldn’t believe it but when he pulled up her real name she had 69 prior arrests. She has been on the wanted list in Yolo County for 5 felonies counts for nearly three years. The woman was arrested jailed, awaiting her arraignment. I am experiencing post-traumatic stress syndrome. I haven’t slept regularly in the nearly a month since it happened. I’m having nightmares. But the whole time it was happening I felt this overall calm and control. Today I see this as great gift of inner strength.
The nightmare isn’t over. I’m now dealing with the justice system in the city of San Francisco that is going to give her time served. The police and the DAs offices seem to have a hard time believing me because they say this never happens. They keep questioning if I know her which doesn’t make any sense to me since I am a good citizen with a clean record. How would I know her and why would I let her do this to me?
Plus, I’m still dealing with the bank, who by issuing unauthorized cards in my name and allowing a thief access to my accounts, had started all this in the first place. Initially it was the bank’s inclination to treat me as the criminal, as they are eager to sweep it all under the rug.